Headband rigging for safety helmets



March 1, 1960 w. s FINKEN HEADBAND RIGGING FOR SAFETY HELMETS Original Filed Aug. 12, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY March 1, 1960 w. s. FlNKEN HEADBAND RIGGING FOR SAFETY HELMETS Original Filed Aug. 12, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 mmvron WALTER 8, F/NKENw ATTORNEY March 1, 1960 w. s. FlNKEN 2,925,355

H EADBAND RIGGING FOR SAFETY HELMETS Original Filed Aug. 12, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. WALTER S. F'l/VKEN mfixidik United States Patent HEADBAND RIGGING FOR SAFETY HELMETS Walter S. Finlren, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignor to Leonard P. Frieder, Great Neck, N.Y.

Original application August 12, 1953, Serial No. 373,795, now Patent No. 2,805,419, dated September 10, 1957. Divided and this application September 19, 1956, Serial No. 610,847

1 Claim. (Cl. 2-3) This is a division of my copending application Serial No. 373,795, filed August 12, 1953, entitled, Protective Pad and Earphone Support for Safety Helmets, now US. Patent No. 2,805,419, which copending application was a continuation-in-part of the joint application of Leonard P. Frieder and Walter S. Firzken, Ser. No. 201,904, filed December 21, 1950 for Headgear Structure, now US. Patent No. 2,739,309, patented March 27, 1956.

This invention relates to safety helmets and especially to impact preventing structures, including headband and rigging structures, for use in connection with such helmets.

A currently popular and effective type of safety helmet includes a rigid helmet shell enclosing substantially all parts of the head of the wearer except his face. This shell is commonly supported on a rigging of headbands and headstraps which closely engage the head of the wearer, but are spaced from the helmet structure throughout most of their length. Since the headbands and headstraps are flexible, the rigid shell structures are free to move to a limited extent with respect to the head of the wearer. It is desirable in all cases to prevent the shell from being moved into contact with the wearers head.

It has been found that in the case of safety helmets worn by aviators, a large proportion of the accidental blows received on the helmets are received on the portion of the helmet which overlies the forehead.

In helmets of the prior art, means have been provided for adjusting the size of the headband so as to adapt the helmet to be worn by different persons. Such a change in the size of a headband inside of a rigid shell necessarily requires a change in the spacing between the headband and the shell. In the prior art helmets, no distinction was made between changes in the spacing between the front of the headband and the shell and the spacing between other parts of the headband and the shell.

In accordance with the prrsent invention, the headband is constructed of two separate elements, one adapted to engage the wearers forehead and the other adapted to engage the rear part of the head. The ends of the forward headband are fixed to the shell so that the spacing between the forward headband and the shell cannot be changed. A head size adjustment is provided by adjusting the length of the rear headband element only. By virtue of this constriction, the wearer of the helmet is prevented from reducing the effective protection over the forehead area by decreasing the spacing between the forward headband and the shell in the course of an adjustment.

An object of the invention is to provide, in a safety helmet of the type described, improved structure for preventing contact between the shell and the wearers head.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a safety helmet having an improved headband rigging.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved rigging for a safety helmet including a front headband element whose spacing with respect to the shell is fixed and a rear headband element whose length is adjustable to vary the head size.

The foregoing and other objects are attained by providing a helmet having a rigid shell structure and a headband arrangement including front and rear headband elements which engage the head closely at the front and rear thereof and which are spaced from the head in the locality of the ears, being preferably attached to the rigid shell in those localities.

Both the front and rear headband elements are spaced from the shell along the central portions thereof by means of a plurality of loops of flexible material extendedbetween the headband elements and the shell. The ends of the front headband element extend tangentially from the central portion thereof to the shell and are fixed at their point of attachment to the shell so that the length of the front headband element is not adjustable. The rear headband element is similarly constructed except that adjustable means are used to attach its respective ends to the shell, so that the head size may be varied to suit the wearer.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following specification, taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a bottom plan view of a safety helmet embodying the invention, with certain parts omitted and others broken away;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the helmet of Fig. 1 taken on the line IIII of Fig. 1, but with the helmet right side up;

Fig. 3 is a lateral cross-sectional view of the helmet of Fig. 1, taken on the line IIIIII of Fig. 1, with the helmet right side up;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line IV--IV of Fig. 1, with the helmet right side up;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view taken from the inside of the helmet of Fig. 1, showing the means for attaching the ends of the headband elements to the shell; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevational view of the structure shown in Fig. 5, taken from the outside of the helmet.

There is shown in the drawings a rigid helmet 1, preferably of a stiff plastic material. The shell 1 is adapted to be supported on the head of a wearer by means of a rigging which comprises a front headband element 2, a rear headband element 3, a longitudinal headstrap 4, a lateral headstrap 5, and two diagonal headstraps 6.

The longitudinal headstrap 4 is attached at its ends to the front and read headband elements 2 and 3, for example, as by sewing, as shown in Fig. 2. The front and rear headband elements 2 and 3 are attached to the shell 1 at points intermediate their ends by means of loops 7 and 8 of flexible elastic material. The loops 7 are open from top to bottom. These loops 7 are sewed to the headband elements 2 and 3 and pass under plates 7a, which are attached to the shell by means of rivets 7b (Fig. 4). The plates 7a also hold in place additional plates 70, having apertures to receive loops formed on the ends of the diagonal headstraps 6. The loops 8 have their open ends horizontal, and are attached to the front and rear headbands at the localities where those headbands are joined by the longitudinal headstrap 4.

The front headband element 2 is not adjustable as to length. Its ends are provided with loops 2a (Fig. 5) which extend through openings provided for that purpose in a plate 9 attached to the rigid shell 1. 'For example, this attachment may be made by rivets 10, as shown in the drawing. I

The rear headband element 3 is provided at each of its ends with an adjusting mechanism including a band extension 3a which passes out through a first set of aligned holes 11a in the plate 9 and the shell 1, then inwardly through a second set of aligned holes 11b and finally outwardly through a third set of aligned holes 11c. On its outer end, the band extension 3a passes through a length adjusting slider 12, of conventional construction. A tab 13 is fastened to the slider 12 and carries a snap fastener 14 adapted to cooperate with another snap fastener 15 mounted on the shell 1. By adjusting both ends of the rear headband element 3, the size ofthe headband arrangement may be changed to suit the wearer, while maintaining the centering of the helmet on the wearers head. Conversely, the centering may be adjusted while maintaining the size adjustment.

. Sponge rubber pads 16 are provided between the front and rear headband elements 2 and 3 and the rigid shell 1. A large sponge rubber pad 17 lines the inner surface of the crown of the shell 1.

The headband elements 2 and 3 are made of relatively inelastic material, which stretches longitudinally only slightly. When a blow is received on the outside of the shell 1 at the forehead covering portion thereof, the entire shell tends to move rearwardly with respect to the wearer s head. The ends of the front headband element 2 move rearwardly with the shell, pulling the central portion of the element 2 with them, thereby pulling the head of the wearer rearwardly and away from the portion of the shell where the blow was struck. The normal position of the element 2 should be established far enough from the shell, so that when the element 2 is stretched its maximum amount in a direction toward the shell, the shell cannot touch it so as to transmit a blow directly to the wearers head. The fact that the ends of the element 2 are fixed, i.e., not adjustable, ensures that the wearer cannot disturb this normal position in adjusting the head size.

The pads 16 are provided for emergencies. Normally they do not touch the headband element. Under especially severe blows, the pads 16 contact the headband element, and relieve strains in it which might otherwise cause it to break or tear. Nevertheless, because of their compressively resilient structure, they cannot transmit any substantial impact from the shell to the wearers ead.

the head of a wearer and end portions extending tangentially from said central portions to the shell, means attaching the shell ends of said end portions to the shell, said front element comprising a single piece of inelastic material of fixed length, said attaching means for the ends of the front headband element being fixed against relative movement of said ends with respect to the shell, said front element being substantially shorter than the distance along the inner surface of the shell between the points of attachment of said end attaching means so that the central portion of the front headband element is spaced from the shell, a plurality of spacing means attached to the shell and to said central portions of said headband elements, each said spacing means including a member of flexible material so that the spacing means is incapable of transmitting a compressive stress between said shell and its associated headband element, said attaching means for at least one end of the rear headband element being manually adjustable as to length to vary the head size of the rigging, whereby manual adjustment of the head size is incapable of varying the spacing between the shell and the central portion of the front headband element.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 631,880 Ross Aug. 29, 1899 2,706,294 Sprinkle Apr. 19, 1955 2,739,309 Frieder et al. Mar. 27, 1956 2,739,310 Frieder et al. Mar. 27, 1956 

